Lululemon invests in Syntetica’s $30M nylon recycling round

Lululemon has joined the investor list for Syntetica, a French startup that just closed a $30 million Series A funding round to scale its breakthrough technology for recycling nylon , a material prized for its durability but notoriously difficult to repurpose.

Syntetica’s process targets two common types of nylon , Nylon 6 and Nylon 6,6 , which are nearly impossible to separate once mixed in post-consumer textile waste, CEO Marco Bertone explained. The challenge has long stymied efforts to create a closed-loop system for apparel.

The fashion industry faces mounting pressure to embrace circularity, driven largely by consumer expectations around sustainability, especially among premium brands. Syntetica is riding that wave, but it’s also benefiting from a more immediate catalyst: volatile nylon prices. Over the past six months, geopolitical instability in oil markets has forced quarterly or even weekly price renegotiations for nylon, a petroleum-based synthetic. “It’s been a wake-up call to many brands that have been relying on petrol-sourced nylon and petrol-sourced synthetics for pricing and convenience, and which today have seen massive shocks to their system,” Bertone said.

Syntetica’s answer is pragmatic. “We have built the company with the clarity that there’s no green premium,” Bertone added. “If you want to scale real solutions for a sustainable world, it needs to be cost competitive, highly scalable, and you need to build partnerships from the very start.”

Those partnerships already include Victoria’s Secret and Etam, alongside Lululemon, with a recycling project expected to go to market early next year. The Series A also attracted backing from MAS Holdings, a major apparel manufacturer , a notable move, since supply chain players rarely invest in pre-scale startups. “It’s a recognition of how significant the problem has become,” Bertone noted.

Before the funding round, Syntetica had already partnered with Michelin’s Centre for Sustainable Materials to build a commercial demonstration facility in Clermont-Ferrand, Michelin’s hometown. Unlike some competitors, Syntetica won’t produce finished textiles. Instead, its recycling process yields pellets that can be turned into yarn by manufacturers like MAS. “It’s a story of pragmatic industrial partnerships with the right players to get buy-in from the whole value chain,” Bertone said.

Bertone, whose background is in fashion and second-hand e-commerce, co-founded Syntetica after meeting chemistry researcher Louis Monsigny through Entrepreneur First, a matchmaking-style accelerator based at Paris’s Station F campus. The duo later refined their work at AgroParisTech’s lab in Reims. They have since hired CTO Ash Ward, a former executive at failed battery company Northvolt, whose cofounder Peter Carlsson now serves as a Syntetica advisor. Bertone sees value in that experience: “Their scars and first-hand experience with the ups and downs of scaling give them experience on when and where to take risks.”

Bertone is clear about the balance required. “As a startup, we have to be comfortable taking more risks than industrials; otherwise, there would be no innovation. But there’s also a line , when you parallelize too many risks, then it can become complex.” That’s why Syntetica is staying focused for now. The Series A funds will go toward demonstrating the ability to produce hundreds of tons of pellets per year and delivering them to clients in the clothing supply chain. After that, Bertone said, “Syntetica will be building facilities around the world, close to waste sources and close to textile production.”

Being based in France offers distinct advantages. The Series A was led by the Ecotechnologies 2 fund, managed by the Green Venture team at Bpifrance, France’s public investment bank, as part of the France 2030 plan. The startup has also received support from the European Innovation Council through equity, grants, and its acceleration program. For these public backers, Syntetica fits into a broader strategy to strengthen Europe’s industrial capabilities while cutting reliance on fossil fuels. Private investors include EQT Ventures, SWEN Capital Partners, and family offices.

Syntetica isn’t alone in this space. Competitors include enzyme-based plastic recyclers and chemical giant BASF, which has developed its own recycled nylon. But Bertone welcomes the competition. After attending industry events, he said, “If everyone were to scale to tens of factories, we still wouldn’t solve this problem. Everyone needs to succeed for us to succeed as a society.”

Lululemon has also invested in other textile recycling startups, including Epoch Biodesign and Samsara Eco, signaling a broader commitment to sustainable materials.